Crevalle Jack

The Pacific and Atlantic fish may actually be the same species. The Pacific, is found from Southern California to Peru and may grow to almost 40 inches and almost 40 pounds but the photo specimen was 11 inches and 11 ounces. Atlantic fish are found from Nova Scotia to Uruguay and have grown to over 48 inches and 70 pounds.

More on Jacks & Trevally.

This is a "dark meat, almost mackerel strength" fish, so it will not be thought ideal by neophytes who want their fish white and pale in flavor.

Cooking:   This fish is not a good candidate for cooking whole because of the severe skin shrink. As with other Jacks, the flesh stays quite firm, even with wet cooking, but is easily broken into large flakes.

Scales:   Crevalle Jack scales are small and easy to scrape off, and there aren't many of them.

Fillet:   This fish fillets easily with a coherent bones structure to follow. When you get to the rib cage, cut the ribs from the backbone with kitchen shears and pull them from the fillet with long nose pliers.

Skin:   The skin has shrinks so severely it will actually tear fillets, so it needs to be removed for any method of cooking. The standard long knife and cutting board method works fine. The bothersome row of hard scutes along the lateral line come off with the skin.

Yield:   A 9 ounce fish yielded about 4 ounces of bone-free skinless fillet (44%).

Stock:   No recent test available, but will probably be a bit a little strong.